From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Ah!"

Fred sneezed and looked at George, who was also feeling unwell. "Is Professor McGonagall nagging us again?"

"They clearly promised they wouldn't cause any trouble during this event... At most, they'd use a running ball to hit the opponent's butt..."

George, still in his racing jersey, complained, "Ron's not here anyway, how could we possibly hurt our teammate..."

"So, you're saying—although yesterday, because of him, the professor dragged us into his office and questioned us for ages about what pranks we played on Professor Binns..."

The two chatted back and forth, looking completely out of place with their teammates around them—as twins, they had a level of understanding far exceeding that of players in the corresponding positions from other colleges, and were naturally selected, while the rest of the candidates were mostly replaced by people from other colleges.

"We need to control ourselves; we can't win too much..."

Mrs. Hooch's words resurfaced in their minds, and the two looked somewhat listless—when the opponent is too weak, even the game isn't that interesting.

"I'm coming!"

Madam Huoqi whispered a reminder!

A group of players quickly looked into the distance—Hagrid, the most obvious symbol, had come into view. His arrival, which should theoretically be at the entrance, could only mean one thing: the Ministry of Magic had arrived.

"Get ready, remember what I said, don't make things too difficult for the guests..."

Mrs. Fokke gave her final instructions.

"no problem!"

The players responded cheerfully.

-

"Let's fight those kids... Can we pull out the wand?"

While Fudge was talking to Professor McGonagall, the selected Ministry of Magic staff members whispered their opinions.

Everyone here comes from Hogwarts. They can fool themselves with their magical abilities, but when it comes to Quidditch, they really can't do it, even though the department even prepared brand new Nimbus 2003s for them. But is this a matter of brooms?

Everyone here has been through their student days and knows their own limitations—letting them play would be embarrassing.

Why can't we duel?

In a duel, they could even fight two students at the same time!

"Which bastard gave the minister such damn advice—it's unbelievable, playing against the handpicked school team...isn't that shameful?"

"It's just..."

"Shh—keep your voice down! At least our brooms are better than theirs, so we might just win. We can't afford to equip ourselves with so many new light wheels back in our school days!"

The temporary captain reassured his teammates, or rather, tried his best to prevent them from giving up before the game even started.

Although our training time is lacking, our talent is inferior to the other team, and our teamwork is a mess, we have such beautiful new brooms! The poor students on the school team don't have that kind of advantage—wait a minute?

He must have misread it.

You must have misread it, right?

That thing—the temporary captain rubbed his eyes and looked at his teammates, hoping that their knowledgeable expertise, able to instantly identify the broom's grade and production date, would tell him it wasn't real.

"Fire bolts!"

Hmm—as expected, wait a minute?

He felt his neck stiffen, and the people around him were stunned.

"That's right, they are fire crossbow bolts."

"Yes, it's definitely a fire crossbow bolt..."

The morale that had been so hard-won—was completely gone…

-

"Let's go check over at the classroom. The future of the magical world is still studying hard."

Fudge flashed a perfect smile, allowing reporters to take pictures while he walked towards the castle led by Professor McGonagall.

"Don't disturb their studies, I'll just look out the back window."

With a friendly smile, he gave instructions to the reporters and accompanying Ministry of Magic officials, and then, led by Professor McGonagall, took several photos of students studying from the back door of the classroom.

Then, the group began to take a detour towards the stadium. The rest of the students and participants had already arrived at the stadium and were waiting for them to arrive.

...

"They were incredibly brave and willing to take risks..."

Fudge tried his best to keep his expression from changing—he wasn't a professional Quidditch player, but he wasn't blind either!

No, the brooms were purchased in unison, the other side played very poorly, and yet we still lost so badly?

They deliberately left the doorway unguarded! You guys didn't even aim at the doorway!

As for the Seeker—well, he had to admit, the Seeker was alright; at least he wasn't knocked to the ground by various feints, and there weren't any situations where the thief appeared but couldn't be found.

After all, his opponent had a fire crossbow and was highly skilled—due to the Quidditch craze in the wizarding world, Fudge had made a special effort to learn more about it, determined to cultivate a friendly image, so he wouldn't make any basic mistakes.

Fortunately, the score was still respectable—although the players played extremely poorly, the score was very close, and that was enough.

Just when Fudge was about to give up, Harry, as the Seeker, finally ended the nightmare and captured the Golden Snitch.

This made Fudge exceptionally happy when he presented the award—none of the Quidditch World Cups he participated in had made him feel this bad.

'It's almost over…'

He felt a little emotional—next, it was just routine to talk to Dumbledore about things in the wizarding world and ask for his opinion.

He had done this many times before, so he was very familiar with it.

Let's end this visit here—the score was decent...it's not an international match, so it's not a big deal...

With that thought in mind, he walked toward Dumbledore's office.

-

"Is he coming back?"

Fudge's eyes widened—five minutes ago, no, two minutes ago he couldn't believe he would get such an answer from Dumbledore.

"You're joking, Dumbledore."

He stammered, "The Mysterious Man... is back? Nonsense. Don't be ridiculous, Dumbledore..."

"Yes, he should be back by now."

Dumbledore repeated, "At least based on the existing evidence, that is the case."

Fudge looked at Dumbledore, completely unable to accept it—he desperately wished it were April Fool's Day, and that Dumbledore would say something like, "I'm joking."

"What evidence?"

"Some investigations and speculations... by Professor William suggest that Voldemort has been resurrected in America."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! The Aurors didn't report it, and the strikers—America?"

Fudge shouted, but realized halfway through that he was wrong—"America?"

"How did Professor William know? He—no, the mysterious man couldn't possibly be back, how could he possibly be back? I need to see Professor William!"

"I've already notified him to come over..."

Dumbledore looked at Fudge—he hadn't expected Fudge to react this way; he had miscalculated.

Just as Fudge refused to look at the speculations, William rushed over and quickly figured out what had happened.

He immediately leaned close to Fudge's ear and whispered a few words.

"...You're joking, Professor William."

Fudge looked at William and shook his head, shaking it desperately.

"I need a little time, Dumbledore... Give me a little more time... I'll have someone make a record..."

He looked uncertain, his face full of hesitation.

Fudge left in a hurry, but the sound he had just heard still lingered in his ears.

"They were released by the Magical Congress of the United States..."

"In the event of conflict, a new election cannot be held during wartime, so Mr. Crouch will be unable to participate in the election..."

"Minister...Minister Millicent Barnold, who won the war, has been re-elected for ten years..."

Chapter 527 Undercurrents

"You all surprise me..."

After Fudge left in a hurry, filled with fear and confusion, Dumbledore looked at William.

Fudge's reaction was somewhat unexpected, and Fudge's change was also beyond his expectations. "What did you say to him, Professor William?"

“I just told him that the Dark Lord was released by the Magical Congress of the United States, and that he had nothing to do with him.”

William watched Fudge disappear into the distance and shook his head slightly. "I also told him that elections would be suspended during the war, and about the unusually long term of the previous minister, Millison Barnold."

Minister Millicent Barnard served from 1980 to 1990. After winning the war, she remained in the position until she wanted to retire, after which Fudge took over. The most remarkable thing this Ravenclaw-born minister did after taking office was to decisively reject the international magical community's opinion and declare, "I firmly defend everyone's right to revel."

In short, she was the first minister when the war was won, and her resume—well, just look at the extent of Voldemort's rampage at the time to see what it contained…

He didn't know which of his words had offended Fudge, but there was no doubt that there were only a few reasons why Fudge and Dumbledore almost got into a fight, and three sentences could completely dispel all of Fudge's doubts.

'That's strange. Dumbledore is so... clumsy at talking about things Azkaban could brag about.'

"That's all?"

Dumbledore looked at William.

"That's all—I have nothing else to offer him..."

William spread his hands – the most valuable position in the school is the headmaster’s position. Putting aside whether he has any power, even if you give him a ministerial or headmaster’s position, he wouldn’t want it… Fudge almost fell out with Dumbledore over the issue of authority, so how could he possibly think the headmaster’s position is so appealing?

-

"Declaring war, huh..."

Fudge returned to the Ministry of Magic and immediately closed his office door—he needed to calm down.